What do you think?
Rate this book
Frontier Women: The Trans-Mississippi West, 1840-1880
The classic history of women on America's frontiers, now updated and thoroughly revised. FRONTIER WOMEN is an imaginative and graceful account of the extraordinarily diverse contributions of women to the development of the American frontier. Author Julie Roy Jeffrey has expanded her original analysis to include the perspectives of African American and Native American women.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1979
1 person is currently reading
72 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 30, 2022
“A man assuming female responsibilities was doing a favor. A woman doing a male job was doing what was necessary” (45).
October 10, 2017
As a historian, I could hardly make it through this book. I would not consider it a reliable secondary source because it is tainted with opinions and 20th century feminine ideology. Also, many of the author's sources are from the 1970s not all are 1800 primary resources.
When I picked this book up, based on the cover and comments, I assumed it would be a window into the women, who made the American West their home in the 1800s. There isn't a chapter on the Native Americans or Hispanic women. Although there is a comment or two from these cultures, overall this is all about the White Woman. The author does include the dynamic of prostitute and gentel ladies. She also includes a great deal about the Mormon religion/cult and the way in which women were pursued to join the church in Utah.
But it did not live up to its title. The writer was so focused on the social aspect of women/feminism between centuries, she painted a perturbed picture of these 'poor women'. Sufferage wasn't available to them. They were fighting against their men, not literally but morally and figuratively. In some cases this is true, but she fails to mention that many women did not take a stand against their men or voice their opinions because they did not want to. Women have not changed. The women who settled the West were not faint of heart. They were strong women but the author paints them as weak, helpless. Why? Because women couldn't possibly be content at home raising Godly children. They were weak in changing alcohol and prostitution laws. By shear number, women in the West were outnumbered so yes, men would continue to rule and money always rules. Women ran some of these places. Offering themselves a high level of input in the community. None of this is mentioned.
I would be embarrassed as a historian to put my name on this and feed it to the public.
When I picked this book up, based on the cover and comments, I assumed it would be a window into the women, who made the American West their home in the 1800s. There isn't a chapter on the Native Americans or Hispanic women. Although there is a comment or two from these cultures, overall this is all about the White Woman. The author does include the dynamic of prostitute and gentel ladies. She also includes a great deal about the Mormon religion/cult and the way in which women were pursued to join the church in Utah.
But it did not live up to its title. The writer was so focused on the social aspect of women/feminism between centuries, she painted a perturbed picture of these 'poor women'. Sufferage wasn't available to them. They were fighting against their men, not literally but morally and figuratively. In some cases this is true, but she fails to mention that many women did not take a stand against their men or voice their opinions because they did not want to. Women have not changed. The women who settled the West were not faint of heart. They were strong women but the author paints them as weak, helpless. Why? Because women couldn't possibly be content at home raising Godly children. They were weak in changing alcohol and prostitution laws. By shear number, women in the West were outnumbered so yes, men would continue to rule and money always rules. Women ran some of these places. Offering themselves a high level of input in the community. None of this is mentioned.
I would be embarrassed as a historian to put my name on this and feed it to the public.
January 19, 2018
This is an extended review of this quality book.
In most histories of the American West, the American frontier focuses on the male experience. We have many scholarly accounts of fur trappers, gold miners, homesteaders, and cattle ranchers. Nearly all those accounts focus on how men shaped the American frontier. Even those studies which include Native Americans such as the Cheyenne, Sioux, and Comanche primarily discuss how the male warriors from these tribes contested the gold miners, homesteaders, and cattle ranchers for control of the Great Plains. Frontier Women: “Civilizing” the West? 1840 - 1880, by Julie Roy Jeffrey, attempts to explore and explain the role of women in the American West. Working from the journals and letters of the mostly white women who made the journey to the West between 1840 and 1880, Jeffrey paints a picture of the influence these women had upon life in the West.
Jeffrey starts with a description of the economic and cultural changes that caused women to reconsider their place by 1840. While industrialization and the market economy increasingly influenced the lives of women, “they rarely produced vital goods or earned much money. As women’s activities became less important to their family’s economic circumstances female prestige suffered.” (13) To compensate for this loss of economic prestige, many people believed that women should be responsible for transmitting the moral and cultural values of society to their families. And the growth of voluntary female associations between 1800 and 1830 indicates that women had religious and public responsibilities outside the family as well. But few in America questioned the differentiation between the economic roles of women and men. Women who did outside work would “fall into a premature decrepitude more hideous than that of old age.” (32)
After describing the place of women in American society, Jeffrey considers the response of women to emigration. 350,000 people made the trip across the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains to Oregon and California between 1841 and 1867. Few left written descriptions of the journey because “Pioneer women were too busy in making history to write it.” (37) But, based on an average cost of $600 for a group of four people, Jeffrey does conclude that most of the emigrants were middle class. “Obviously, emigration was not an option for the poor.” (39) While on the trail, women often found that the difficulties of the overland journey forced them to step outside their accustomed sphere. With fuel for cooking very scarce on the Great Plains, many women found themselves undertaking the distasteful task of gathering buffalo chips. Failure to observe the Sabbath could also be very distressing to women who saw themselves as guardians of moral and cultural values. The sight of former fur traders and trappers who had taken Indian wives and adopted Indian culture was a further shock to these women.
After the trip overland ended, women found themselves in an environment that was both familiar and unfamiliar. Though they finally could stay in one place instead of traveling constantly, conditions were very primitive. Women remained in charge of housekeeping (laundry day was especially dreaded) but carving out a successful farm demanded the full participation of the entire family, women included. Loneliness was often a problem for women in the unfamiliar situation of separation from friends and family. The Oregon Donation law gave each family 640 acres, practically insuring that families would experience isolation from each other. Often families had only Indians as neighbors. And while they often got along amicably, most Americans failed to see the impact they were having on their Native American neighbors by disrupting their hunting grounds and transmitting diseases to them.
Over time, however, isolation decreased as more emigrants arrived and rural towns grew. Towns meant churches, schools, and voluntary organizations. At last, women had the opportunity to carry out their civilizing responsibilities. Or did they? Jeffrey points out that the transient population of the frontier inhibited fulfillment of women’s civilizing mission. Frontier vices such as gambling, drinking, and prostitution also stood in the way. But there were many successes for women despite these obstacles. They played a major part in establishing schools because many frontier towns were slow to provide them, and made up the vast majority of teachers. Women also helped to establish Protestant churches and other religious institutions but in affirmation of traditional roles expected men to run the affairs of the church. This situation led Jeffrey to conclude that “The reality of the frontier, far from rejecting the civilizing mission, reaffirmed it.” (130)
Never was the civilizing influence of women more necessary than in the mining camps of the West. Though over 90% of the white population of California was male in 1850, Jeffrey does find some evidence of the impact of women on the mining camps. She estimates that of the women in California in 1850, 20% were prostitutes. But of the rest, many went to the frontier with the “intention of battling materialism and vice.” (148) Working in mining camps also presented a financial opportunity. Miners needed domestic services like cooking and housekeeping desperately, and they paid well. And in an area with so few women, social opportunities abounded.
Jeffrey includes a very interesting chapter on the experience of Mormon women in the West. This includes commentary on the practice of polygamy, which she sees as “neither so degrading as the Gentiles claimed nor so liberating as the Mormon spokeswomen insisted.” (182) Based on other studies, Jeffrey states that most likely ten to twenty percent of families practiced polygamy, or plural marriage, depending on various circumstances. But polygamy is not the entire discussion. There were both economic and religious rewards for women because the Mormon church aided emigrants financially and attempted to integrate them into the local economy, an early version of (church) government welfare. The Relief Society helped women to take up careers such as teaching, social work, and business.
The last chapter examines what happened when women tried to exercise their civilizing powers through organizations and public action. The Civil War was a stimulus to public action, giving rise to Aid Societies. Issues such as prohibition, temperance, and suffrage also organized women to publicly agitate for a cause. However, many viewed women who participated in these movements as having overstepped their bounds.
Frontier Women is an important contribution to Western history. Julie Roy Jeffrey brings several important issues to light. The viewpoints held by women, and how they imagined their role in the West, have often escaped the attention of Western historians, although recent work is evening the score just a bit. Jeffrey presents these viewpoints in a very readable narrative. A liberal sprinkling of quotes from journals and historical documents give her subject a powerful human touch, and there is occasional use of statistics to support her arguments. Jeffrey also manages to discuss a wide variety of historic events, from the emigrant trails to the mining camps, to give the reader a broad picture of how women impacted many aspects of the frontier experience.
However, though I do not deny that Frontier Women is an important contribution to understanding the experience of frontier America, there are certain things I would like to see included or handled differently. One thing missing is maps. Jeffrey discusses conditions for women in many locations. Some are well known but others are not. Being able to place each location on a map would help the reader make connections between women’s experiences and local conditions. Footnotes are not available, though there is a bibliography. The primary focus of Frontier Women is on the experiences of white women. Fuller treatment of other groups of women would have strengthened the analysis of the frontier experience, though Jeffrey herself acknowledges she has suggested only some of the possible experiences for those women due to lack of primary sources. Finally, I had some issues with the organization of the book. Although the chapters are built around common themes such as the emigration experience, the narrative often jumps from one geographic place to another, and the connections are not always readily apparent. But despite these reservations, I still have a positive recommendation for Frontier Women as an important part of describing the frontier experience. None of my issues with the book change the fact that it is a clearly written work about a topic that deserves attention.
This book deserves a strong 4 for its score.
In most histories of the American West, the American frontier focuses on the male experience. We have many scholarly accounts of fur trappers, gold miners, homesteaders, and cattle ranchers. Nearly all those accounts focus on how men shaped the American frontier. Even those studies which include Native Americans such as the Cheyenne, Sioux, and Comanche primarily discuss how the male warriors from these tribes contested the gold miners, homesteaders, and cattle ranchers for control of the Great Plains. Frontier Women: “Civilizing” the West? 1840 - 1880, by Julie Roy Jeffrey, attempts to explore and explain the role of women in the American West. Working from the journals and letters of the mostly white women who made the journey to the West between 1840 and 1880, Jeffrey paints a picture of the influence these women had upon life in the West.
Jeffrey starts with a description of the economic and cultural changes that caused women to reconsider their place by 1840. While industrialization and the market economy increasingly influenced the lives of women, “they rarely produced vital goods or earned much money. As women’s activities became less important to their family’s economic circumstances female prestige suffered.” (13) To compensate for this loss of economic prestige, many people believed that women should be responsible for transmitting the moral and cultural values of society to their families. And the growth of voluntary female associations between 1800 and 1830 indicates that women had religious and public responsibilities outside the family as well. But few in America questioned the differentiation between the economic roles of women and men. Women who did outside work would “fall into a premature decrepitude more hideous than that of old age.” (32)
After describing the place of women in American society, Jeffrey considers the response of women to emigration. 350,000 people made the trip across the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains to Oregon and California between 1841 and 1867. Few left written descriptions of the journey because “Pioneer women were too busy in making history to write it.” (37) But, based on an average cost of $600 for a group of four people, Jeffrey does conclude that most of the emigrants were middle class. “Obviously, emigration was not an option for the poor.” (39) While on the trail, women often found that the difficulties of the overland journey forced them to step outside their accustomed sphere. With fuel for cooking very scarce on the Great Plains, many women found themselves undertaking the distasteful task of gathering buffalo chips. Failure to observe the Sabbath could also be very distressing to women who saw themselves as guardians of moral and cultural values. The sight of former fur traders and trappers who had taken Indian wives and adopted Indian culture was a further shock to these women.
After the trip overland ended, women found themselves in an environment that was both familiar and unfamiliar. Though they finally could stay in one place instead of traveling constantly, conditions were very primitive. Women remained in charge of housekeeping (laundry day was especially dreaded) but carving out a successful farm demanded the full participation of the entire family, women included. Loneliness was often a problem for women in the unfamiliar situation of separation from friends and family. The Oregon Donation law gave each family 640 acres, practically insuring that families would experience isolation from each other. Often families had only Indians as neighbors. And while they often got along amicably, most Americans failed to see the impact they were having on their Native American neighbors by disrupting their hunting grounds and transmitting diseases to them.
Over time, however, isolation decreased as more emigrants arrived and rural towns grew. Towns meant churches, schools, and voluntary organizations. At last, women had the opportunity to carry out their civilizing responsibilities. Or did they? Jeffrey points out that the transient population of the frontier inhibited fulfillment of women’s civilizing mission. Frontier vices such as gambling, drinking, and prostitution also stood in the way. But there were many successes for women despite these obstacles. They played a major part in establishing schools because many frontier towns were slow to provide them, and made up the vast majority of teachers. Women also helped to establish Protestant churches and other religious institutions but in affirmation of traditional roles expected men to run the affairs of the church. This situation led Jeffrey to conclude that “The reality of the frontier, far from rejecting the civilizing mission, reaffirmed it.” (130)
Never was the civilizing influence of women more necessary than in the mining camps of the West. Though over 90% of the white population of California was male in 1850, Jeffrey does find some evidence of the impact of women on the mining camps. She estimates that of the women in California in 1850, 20% were prostitutes. But of the rest, many went to the frontier with the “intention of battling materialism and vice.” (148) Working in mining camps also presented a financial opportunity. Miners needed domestic services like cooking and housekeeping desperately, and they paid well. And in an area with so few women, social opportunities abounded.
Jeffrey includes a very interesting chapter on the experience of Mormon women in the West. This includes commentary on the practice of polygamy, which she sees as “neither so degrading as the Gentiles claimed nor so liberating as the Mormon spokeswomen insisted.” (182) Based on other studies, Jeffrey states that most likely ten to twenty percent of families practiced polygamy, or plural marriage, depending on various circumstances. But polygamy is not the entire discussion. There were both economic and religious rewards for women because the Mormon church aided emigrants financially and attempted to integrate them into the local economy, an early version of (church) government welfare. The Relief Society helped women to take up careers such as teaching, social work, and business.
The last chapter examines what happened when women tried to exercise their civilizing powers through organizations and public action. The Civil War was a stimulus to public action, giving rise to Aid Societies. Issues such as prohibition, temperance, and suffrage also organized women to publicly agitate for a cause. However, many viewed women who participated in these movements as having overstepped their bounds.
Frontier Women is an important contribution to Western history. Julie Roy Jeffrey brings several important issues to light. The viewpoints held by women, and how they imagined their role in the West, have often escaped the attention of Western historians, although recent work is evening the score just a bit. Jeffrey presents these viewpoints in a very readable narrative. A liberal sprinkling of quotes from journals and historical documents give her subject a powerful human touch, and there is occasional use of statistics to support her arguments. Jeffrey also manages to discuss a wide variety of historic events, from the emigrant trails to the mining camps, to give the reader a broad picture of how women impacted many aspects of the frontier experience.
However, though I do not deny that Frontier Women is an important contribution to understanding the experience of frontier America, there are certain things I would like to see included or handled differently. One thing missing is maps. Jeffrey discusses conditions for women in many locations. Some are well known but others are not. Being able to place each location on a map would help the reader make connections between women’s experiences and local conditions. Footnotes are not available, though there is a bibliography. The primary focus of Frontier Women is on the experiences of white women. Fuller treatment of other groups of women would have strengthened the analysis of the frontier experience, though Jeffrey herself acknowledges she has suggested only some of the possible experiences for those women due to lack of primary sources. Finally, I had some issues with the organization of the book. Although the chapters are built around common themes such as the emigration experience, the narrative often jumps from one geographic place to another, and the connections are not always readily apparent. But despite these reservations, I still have a positive recommendation for Frontier Women as an important part of describing the frontier experience. None of my issues with the book change the fact that it is a clearly written work about a topic that deserves attention.
This book deserves a strong 4 for its score.
August 30, 2018
An important resource about female pioneers in the American West -
Frontier Women: The Trans-Mississippi West 1840-1880 provides an overview of pioneer life that expands beyond the boundaries of my knowledge of Colorado history. I gained useful insights regarding a broader view of the female experience during Western Expansion in America. Specifically, established differences and overlaps of male and female realms and viewpoints altered when families emigrated westward. For writing purposes, text about role changes for women, difficulties assimilating to life in mining camps, and efforts to introduce civilized culture were especially informative. Some chapters were overdone. Although interesting, the chapter on Mormon culture and polygamy practices was cumbersome. Information about Native American culture and other races is sparsely mentioned.
Perusing the back matter first, I learned that the author considered this book as a general audience read not requiring footnotes. However, my reading was often interrupted by a search for source citation. A general audience read implies a more casual and flowing style than is displayed in this scholarly work. Unfortunately, the hodgepodge of chapter endnotes in the bibliography came off as vague, chaotic and difficult to navigate. Secondly, flipping back and forth to chapter endnotes proved frustrating. It was a tedious task to determine whether references and quotations were from specific primary documents or from previously interpreted and published material removed from original context and chronology. Regardless, author and Ph.D. Julie Roy Jeffrey's perspective, interpretation and preservation of this important slice of American Western History is a treasure.
Frontier Women: The Trans-Mississippi West 1840-1880 provides an overview of pioneer life that expands beyond the boundaries of my knowledge of Colorado history. I gained useful insights regarding a broader view of the female experience during Western Expansion in America. Specifically, established differences and overlaps of male and female realms and viewpoints altered when families emigrated westward. For writing purposes, text about role changes for women, difficulties assimilating to life in mining camps, and efforts to introduce civilized culture were especially informative. Some chapters were overdone. Although interesting, the chapter on Mormon culture and polygamy practices was cumbersome. Information about Native American culture and other races is sparsely mentioned.
Perusing the back matter first, I learned that the author considered this book as a general audience read not requiring footnotes. However, my reading was often interrupted by a search for source citation. A general audience read implies a more casual and flowing style than is displayed in this scholarly work. Unfortunately, the hodgepodge of chapter endnotes in the bibliography came off as vague, chaotic and difficult to navigate. Secondly, flipping back and forth to chapter endnotes proved frustrating. It was a tedious task to determine whether references and quotations were from specific primary documents or from previously interpreted and published material removed from original context and chronology. Regardless, author and Ph.D. Julie Roy Jeffrey's perspective, interpretation and preservation of this important slice of American Western History is a treasure.
February 9, 2023
I found the book interesting. It gave me a better understanding of why and how frontier women choose to move west and what life was like for them once they arrived west.
Read
October 7, 2025Did not enjoy, but interesting demographics.
January 26, 2017
An interesting study on the roles of women on the frontier. Well-researched and organized, the author presents information on how women felt during this time period, drawing upon primary sources such as diaries and journals, as well as how they shaped the frontier. Due to the scarcity of primary sources by anyone other than middle-class white women, the book was forced to be somewhat limited in regards to including experiences of women across ethnic and financial boundaries; however the author does include this information when it could be found. Overall I would recommend this book to anyone wishing to expand their knowledge of the history of the American frontier as well as the roles of women in history.
January 25, 2014
The author provides a very balanced look at the experience of women on the western frontier. She uses primary sources to support her theories and is very logical and concise. It is primarily a book on the experience of white women but the author freely admits this. I would recommend to anyone looking for a good analysis of the western emigration and the experience of women.
June 22, 2017
An interesting book about pioneer women, rural and urban, wealthy and poor, missionary and prostitute. Not as compelling as Jeffrey's biography of Narcissa Whitman, but an enjoyable read.
April 12, 2017
Frontier Women by Julie Roy Jeffrey provides a look inside of the day to day lives of women pioneers to the American West. From the wagon train life to the wild early days of San Francisco and Denver, to the days of prohibition and fighting for the right to vote, women have helped form the culture throughout American history. Their hard work is often overlooked when discussing how the American west was formed, but women played a vital role in holding down the home fronts while their men went off to find work or pursue dreams of fortunes from the gold and silver mines.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning about the history of women's involvement in settling the West.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning about the history of women's involvement in settling the West.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews